France, Germany, Poland back permanent EU military HQ

(PARIS) - France, Germany and Poland want the idea of a permanent European Union military headquarters in Brussels to be pursued despite British opposition, their foreign ministers said Monday.

The ministers issued a joint statement after EU foreign and security policy chief Catherine Ashton released a report on possible ways for states to pool and share military capacities, which the ministers discussed.

The text of her report mentioned a "permanent civilian-military planning and conduct of operations capacity" or permanent European military headquarters, Alain Juppe, Guido Westerwelle and Radoslaw Sikorski said in the statement.